Reading Response 16

William Jones' "Personal Information Management"

I particularly enjoyed Jones' section on Keeping actions. Bookmarking websites, filing information, and setting reminder alerts on emails are common things I do everyday so it was easy to relate to this section within the paper. I agree that sometimes although information needs to be saved or 'kept' it does become frustrating to have to go through the bookmarking process. I myself like to use the bookmarks toolbar within firefox which actually is a time-staking process. First I have to click the bookmarks button on the Apple Toolbar, then I select Bookmark this page. After this the bookmark window pops open and I'm prompted to name the Bookmark, decide it's location, and then tag it if I wish. Once I select that I want the bookmark on the toolbar and then I name it, I've spent almost an entire minute just saving the page. Rather than reading more about the topic or starting a new search, I'm stuck saving the page and wasting time.

I do agree that although saving information/sites is very beneficial, but what about those times where you forget where you saved the bookmark, what the actual name of the bookmark was. Just because you save something, doesn't entirely mean you'll remember what you had it saved as months later.

Lastly I laughed at Jones' description of "placing or leaving information in piles" as an alternative to filing. I have to admit that it's actually my preferred choice for filing:) Rather than file information/papers/letters in their respective places, I'd rather lump them in one big pile in the corner of my desk. Although it allows for easy access, I do spend an absurd amount of time fingerlicking and flipping through 100 pages just to find that old quiz to study from.